Hello,
First post! My young son and I would like to make a drone using 3d printed (or mostly 3d printed) parts.
I have found this on thinkverse: T4 Quadcopter Drone by Brendan22 - Thingiverse
Can anyone suggest a tutorial or better yet a kit i can purchase with a tutorial on how to get up an running. It seems daunting to have to choose controller, motors, batteries ect. I would like our first crack to be a ‘spoon fed’ nube mission.
Thanks in advance.
mmmmarcus
My first question for you is how experienced with 3d printing are you?
If your not careful or know your settings, you could easily print your parts, such as legs and frames, way to weak, or not size things right, leading to mounting holes for motors being too big or small.
There is also the question of how big your printer is. Some models are tested and created to work at only a specific size and can’t handle resizing very well, but if you are very sure of your printing skills, this is a non issue.
As for kits, this is a solid DIY kit. It dosen’t have any 3d parts, but it does have most of everything needed to build a drone. So you could in theory print your own frame and use the parts from this kit to complete your build.
https://www.unmannedtechshop.co.uk/robocat-co-co-280-diy-mini-quadcopter-kit/
The only other things you’ll need for that Kit is a battery and charger, controller setup, and any FPV gear, which, the UnmannedTech team have recommendations in the lower part of the page.
There is plenty of tutorials online for how to connect your parts, as well as tutorials specific to that frame which include motors, ESCs and FC hookup.
Before I’d try to do a 3d printed one, I’d first recommend getting familiar either your 3d printer or building a drone. I’d hate for you and your son to get discouraged cause what seemed simple at first turned into a bit of a hassle, especially if you are unfamiliar with both 3d printing and drone building.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask, i’ll try to answer the best i can, on both 3d printing and drones.
I have printed several frames in various different plastics and different printers and it isn’t easy. As pointed out above, sizing is critical, the print quality has to be spot on and even then, harsh landings can leave you with a few broken parts. I would suggest buying a frame that you can print parts for. If you go onto thingiverse and search Tweaker, the creator, Andy Shen shares all of his 3D printed designs for his drones, there is a 4 inch and a 5 inch version. Many of the parts are printed in TPU and the frame is cheap and robust. The learning curve for drone builds is quite steep, but there are many great tutorials for good builds that don’t cost the earth.
You also need to know what sort of flying you want to do and whether you want to go FPV or not or you are looking for a drone that flies itself. Note you will still need to learn how to fly as the auto stuff does occasionally fail. I suggest a toy grade quad to start with to learn to fly with or get a simulator and a cheap radio with a control cable for your PC.